In recent years, employers, employees, trade unions, and others have become increasingly concerned about the problem of violence to staff working in direct contact with the public. Employees who work alone in this capacity are considered to be in high-risk occupations. Violence in the workplace has been an escalating problem in both the private and public sectors.
In a July 1998 report on workplace violence published by the International Labor Organization, Canada ranked 4th worldwide for workplace violence that victimizes women and 5th for men. The US Center for Disease Control announced as early as 1998 that workplace violence had reached epidemic proportions as reported in the Houston Business Review Mar. 15, 2002 print edition. Workers involved in violent confrontations often suffer severe psychological and physical trauma. Some of these attacks result in hospitalization of the worker and in some cases deaths have occurred. Women are statistically at considerably more risk than their male co-workers. Women working alone often additionally become victims of sexual assault.
Systems disclosed in the prior art have provided various forms of personal alarms designed to ward off and deter attackers or potential attackers. Such systems may have an audible alarm meant to draw attention to the victim or the potential victim. However, such systems are unsuitable or unusable for a large variety of different work environments as these systems are audible and therefore detectable by the perpetrator. Further, such systems are of limited benefit to workers and other users who may need a personal alarm which notifies remote parties.
Related prior art systems enable users to contact the 911 emergency number by pushing a single button on a cell phone or radio. These systems pre-suppose that the aggressor will allow the threatened user to complete the call and may escalate the degree of violence or hasten a hands-on attack if the alarm is used in plain view of the aggressor.
Other prior art systems, such as the alarm system taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,921, contact a monitoring center through a receiver/caller unit. However, such receiver/caller units are stationary units designed to be used exclusively with a telephone line which limits the system's application for mobile individuals.
Still other prior art systems, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,712,619 and 5,838,237, teach personal alarms which are capable of transmitting GPS information to law enforcement or other emergency personnel along with an emergency signal. Neither of these prior art systems control or use existing communication devices such as cell phones and therefore introduce additional costs by requiring cellular or radio transmitting means.